Wallace and Wells each had 18 points in the first half as
Portland put away the game early. The Blazers scored eight
straight points in the opening stages of the first quarter to
take the lead for good and were never threatened.

Portland had a 70-64 lead with 5:18 left in the third quarter
but closed the period with a 14-6 run and led by double digits
thereafter. Wells scored five points during the burst and
Wallace added four.

"This felt good, you come to the point you just get sick of
losing," Wells said. "Tonight we gave a great effort. Sometimes
you play well, sometimes you don't. If we can play good team
defense we can put some good points on the board."

Wells made 13-of-18 shots from the floor and Wallace was
11-of-23.

Ruben Patterson scored 19 points in 20 minutes off the bench in
his first meeting with his former team and Dale Davis had 12 and
seven rebounds for Portland, which shot 57 percent (45-of-81).

"I'm sure (Patterson) is really happy," Portland coach Maurice
Cheeks said. "He was chomping to get into the game, but I had to
put a leash on him. When he got in there, you could tell he
wanted to play against the team he was with last year."

"I'm really excited to beat my old team," Patterson added. "It
feels good to beat those guys. I told my teammates, `If we
don't win this game, you guys are going to be in trouble by
me.'"

Damon Stoudamire collected nine points and a season-high 13
assists and Scottie Pippen was held scoreless but had 11 assists
and nine rebounds.

Gary Payton had 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds for
Seattle, which has lost four straight games. Vin Baker chipped
in 20 points and eight rebounds and rookie Vladimir Radmanovic
scored a season-high 15 points off the bench.

The Sonics shot just 42 percent (36-of-84) from the floor
despite making 8-of-20 3-pointers.

Payton made just 7-of-21 shots after being guarded throughout by
the larger duo of Patterson and Pippen.

"Ruben and Pippen did a good job of pressuring Gary full-court
and wear him down," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said.

"They had a good game plan, they did a good job in making us
lose," Payton added. "We aren't getting the breaks right now,
so hopefully we will soon. We tried to neutralize them, but
they hit the shots tonight."

Meanwhile Portland's offense was unstoppable, piling up a
season-high 34 assists en route to its second-highest point
total.

"We maintained our energy throughout the game," Cheeks said.
"They didn't shoot the ball well and they had a game last night,
so they were probably a little tired. But we got a lot of easy
baskets. Those 34 assists usually mean that we're getting easy
shots and we're getting out in the open court."

The Blazers outscored Seattle in the paint, 50-32, and had 29
points on the fast break.

"(The Blazers) did a good job of getting out and pushing the
ball and running us," McMillan said. "This is a tired team, we
weren't able to get back in transition and that created easy
opportunities for layups or open shots from the perimiter."